SUNDAY IN SEVEN DIALS. The Sharpness of Contrasts in London Realised.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 338, 30 January 1889, Page 6

SUNDAY IN SEVEN DIALS. The Sharpness of Contrasts in London Realised.

If one wants to ' realise- the real sharpness of' contrasts in v London; where horrible slums are side by sfde with wealthy sojuares, .and^where the beggar and millionaire tread the same pavements, one cannot see~it better than by walking a very few steps from the well-dresßed, niiddle-class decorum assembled in St. Georg;e's Church, Bloomsbury, or the fine drawn inteilectualisin of Mr Stopford [ Brooke at Bedford chapel, into Seven Dials, on any Sunday morning 1 . It is really a matter of some difficulty to pass along; Neal -street or Little Earl-street, so crbw/ded,is the whole roadway witsh cosfcer-mon-gers and Cheap Jack's barrows. Everyone' of the little poverty-stricken, _ grimy shojps is open, and tho whole scene, is more busy than it is on any other day "of the week. The sight is one to freeze the heart of a strict Sabbatarian, but, more than that, it 'is a truly dreadful picture of the real condition of life 'in west central London: ' I stood -for some time in the doorway of thV&ickeningly odouriferou's butcher shops, .where, loathsome scraps of trimmings of bone, fat and skin were sold' at -2 pence a ' pound: iA-tall, gaunt woman came and looked theni over, Wt the butcher said : 'No picking ;yer 'takes as' they comes' with them, missus I' •'Well,' she'answered, * then yer might let me have two pound's for tliree^ponce half-penny.' 'Gan't,'was the vendor's' prompt and laconic reply, arid the woman*turned away ; but she stood by the barrow'of a.potatbe" dealer tilt his back iwa3 turned,' and furtively appropriated first one and. theii another of 'his tubers. Not only were "the evidences of poverty something; appalling in this Sunday fair, but the looks of .utter degradation of soul and body in the majority were truly lamentable." ' Angry words, and an occasional bolw ' ' even 1 , 'occurred ; but - that * I apathy and sullen indifference to all but the immediate object' in'view, spoke volumes' of ;' the lives they lived. Young" men. in %dirt I and rags ; girls who had lost the feminine pride of vanity ..which \ leads, them to bestow a though' upon their personal , appearance* . str ( ong, " middle-aged men whose love' of drinbl-was apparent-;-' mothers , withvbabies in their arms, but who looked ! old and,. ■ careworn ,. enough^ to be • gvandmothers,'/these prevailed, lin the crowd.. And. -the noise and' the 1 ' bustle, the ) £uinult and , bargainings lasts 4 till' about 1.30, when t things resume a more' weekday-like tranquility. But one t passes outintq Shaftesbury , } avenue \ and sees the convep-, tional^ and , .well-to-do going home.^t'o Sunday .dinners,^ and-, qne^rqalizes tha^in ■Xpndqn^pf s ally, places, ,(^(^B half 'of th,'e 'worldjknows riot how the other "half lives." l-il -i5 < liond'on.Echo."/{ \ v j ' *